You also need to consider the source of the data. From what I understand, much of Mattermark's data comes from Crunchbase, and the categories in the Mattermark

You also need to consider the source of the data. From what I understand, much of Mattermark's data comes from Crunchbase, and the categories in the Mattermark chart[1] mirror categories on Crunchbase. Crunchbase is by no means a comprehensive source of all deals. As an example, I work with a company that raised a seed round in Q4 2014. Crunchbase does not have this funding despite the fact that it's public. For the deals that Crunchbase does have, the categorization can be very spotty. For instance, you can find $2+ million party rounds with institutional investors categorized as "Seed" while there are sub $1 million rounds categorized as "Venture" or even "Series A." There are also oddball categories like "Debt Financing" and "Convertible Note" which in some cases appear to be the same thing. In my mind this is almost certainly a case of garbage in, garbage out. [1] https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/screen-shot-2015-01-16-at-2-35-10-pm.png?w=680&h=514 https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/screen-...